Action between Thor and Alcantara

28 July 1940, South Atlantic, near Trindade

Inconclusive; both ships damaged and Thor escaped

The disguised raider Thor, under Otto Kähler, had already taken or sunk six ships in the South Atlantic when the armed merchant cruiser Alcantara, an old Royal Mail liner, came on her near the island of Trindade on 28 July 1940. Alcantara was faster, so Kähler turned to fight. Thor's guns were better controlled: three early hits, one on the waterline, flooded Alcantara's engine room and cut her speed. Alcantara hit Thor twice, one shell passing through her hull without exploding. Thor laid smoke and got away, and changed her disguise. It was the first of three fights between Thor and armed merchant cruisers.